4 Liberating Tips For Creative People From Best-Selling Author Adam J. Kurtz

Adam J. Kurtz lives by a simple definition of art.

“You feel something and then create work that will evoke that emotion in others. I think that’s what art is,” said Kurtz at one of the last stops on his month-long book tour.

Behind him stood a bright poster that read, “Things Are What You Make of Them: Life Advice for Creatives.”

It’s the title of Kurtz’s second book. For the 29-year-old author and artist, things have been going pretty well. Now, he's sharing his hard-won tips in "Things Are What You Make of Them," a collection of inspirational missives for fellow artists, hand-printed and set against colorful pink, green and blue backdrops.

This fall, Kurtz traveled to eight cities, from New Orleans to San Francisco to Washington, D.C., to talk about his book and common creative hurdles.

“As creative people, a lot of our challenges are in our own heads,” Kurtz explains.

So, how can artists step out of their heads and find commercial success? Kurtz offered four practical tips at his stop in D.C.

1. Identify your truth.

“What makes you who you are?” Kurtz asks his readers on a pink-lined page of his book.

In D.C. he explained—all modern artists have the same tools at their disposal, whether it’s Photoshop, Google docs or Instagram. Kurtz focuses on what sets him apart: his optimistic, yet slightly pessimistic outlook. It's at the center of his best-selling work, he said. A gold-star pin that reads, “You tried.” A bright balloon that reads, “Sorry I’m an asshole.” An iron-on patch that reads, “At least you’re cool on the Internet.”

“Honesty, humor and a little bit of darkness—this is sort of what my work’s about. This is what I’m about. I did not set out to make a career of this, but it just sort of happened,” Kurtz said.

He urged others who want to make a living from art to be themselves. "Exactly who you are makes you right for what you are doing,” he said.

2. Do it yourself and see how it goes.

In 2012, Kurtz was a broke student, barely able to afford his $300 rent in Baltimore, much less holiday gifts for his friends. He decided to make some.

He grabbed some goldenrod yellow paper from his campus bookstore and crafted weekly planners with encouraging notes for his friends. Kurtz has been making the calendars ever since, but he’s never been able to find an interested publisher. That didn’t stop him. He turned to Kickstarter. This year, Kurtz raised more than $63,000 to distribute the pocket-sized planners—more than four times his first book advance.

“We don’t need major publishers,” Kurtz said in D.C. “We don’t need the green light from the industry gatekeepers any more. We have Kickstarter. We have print-on-demand. We have Instagram.”

3. Be genuinely interested and excited.

Kurtz loves the iconic Strand bookstore in New York City. When the store hosted his book signing, he used the opportunity to pitch another partnership. The final product? A custom tote bag for Strand with its logo and Kurtz’s drawings.

For Kurtz, working with Strand wasn’t about money. It was about being part of cultural touchstones in New York City, where he now lives.

Once an organization or artist you admire opens the door to you, Kurtz suggested, have the courage to pitch other possibilities for collaboration.

4. It’s OK to make things and be paid for them.

Kurtz has now collaborated with Urban Outfitters (to sell ashtrays and pins with cheeky messages), Adobe (to create a printable fortune-teller for creative people), and Microsoft (to design a funny tote bag for employees). He urged artists to “strike the phrase sell-out from your vocabulary.”

“Stop undervaluing your work,” Kurtz said. “It’s OK to make things and be paid for them.”

And whether you're make something to sell (or not), don't put too much pressure on yourself, he said.

“We don’t have to have a groundbreaking masterpiece every time. You can just make something that makes people happy.”